It had been 31 years since the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran. As I read news articles about what is going on in Iran today, I have to ask myself if much has really changed since the early days of the Revolution that Azar Nafisi wrote about in Reading Lolita in Tehran.
I just read an article about how Iran is in a longrunning standoff with the international community over its nuclear program. Iranian leaders insist that their nuclear program is peaceful but they have defied repeated demands to stop enriching nuclear fuel.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected President in 2005 and he restarted the nuclear research. Late September 2009, Iran said that its Revolutionary Guards test-fired missiles with sufficient range to strike Israel. In February 2010, Mr. Ahmadinejad ordered his atomic scientists to begin enriching their stockpile of uranium. Days later, on the anniversary of the overthrow of the Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlzvi, he announced that Iran was a nuclear state despite his earlier denials.
The 2009 Presidential Campaign was a controversial one. Mir Hussein Moussavi ran against Ahmadinejad and it sounds as if strong accusations were exchanged. The polls came in at 65% vs. 35% in Ahmadinejad’s favor. Moussavi denounced the results and many rallies were held. The militia aggressively broke up the rallies, using guns, clubs, tear gas and water cannons. Details on the number of deaths are sketchy because Ahmadinejad cracked down on journalists and moved to block as much cell-phone, text-messaging and internet traffic as possible. A mass trial for dissidents was held.
Some of the older generation of leaders in Iran who served under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini are questioning Mr. Ahmadinejad’s competence and even accused his ministers of corruption. They believe that his faction is distorting the principles of the Islamic Revolution and is instead following a messianic cult that rejects the intermediary role of the clergy.
Mr. Ahmadinejad has become known for his defiance over Iran’s nuclear program and his hostility towards Israel. He shocked the world when he called the Holocaust a myth and repeated an old slogan from the early days of the 1979 Revolution, saying “Israel must be wiped off the map.”
Even though it sounds as if the current leadership might not be following the principles of the Islamic Revolution quite the way the older generation would like, it doesn’t sound as if it’s an improvement either. The people of Iran are still oppressed in my opinion. As I was reading the article it reminded me of many of the accounts given in Reading Lolita in Tehran
I have written in my blogs before about my Iranian co-worker who has shared experiences with me. She left Iran at the start of the Revolution but has gone back to visit family periodically. It is not the country she grew up in and it saddens her. She doesn’t think that she will ever be able to go back and live in her native country unless things change drastically.
Has much changed in Iran since Azar Nafisi wrote about her experiences? I don’t think so.
I don't know about you, but there is so much information about the pain in the world, that at times I just scan headlines and move on. It is hard to allow yourself to become emotionally involved with every pandemic, every murder-suicide, every devastating fire, or war-torn land. I guess it is particularly so when you feel powerless to do anything to change things.
ReplyDeleteI would like to think that the USA and Canada and other Western countries would rally to the support of the few that, though not in power, are making it known that they don't want the power structure in Iran to remain as it is. But if I were one of the protesting students or the new breed that is unsettled and dissatisfied and hiding satellite dishes in homes, would I feel enough confidence to think that my stand in opposition to the powers that be would be backed up. Or would I be just asking for martyrdom?
When it is a general cry, it is easier to ignore than the individual cries. For you, the situation there must seem so much more tangible because of the face put on it by someone real in front of you.
In some way, Reading Lolita does that same thing. It helps put a face on the lives real people are leading and the struggle they face.